


Back To Black

by siriuslywinchester



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Marauders - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:37:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3378398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuslywinchester/pseuds/siriuslywinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>written for Padfoot on the <a href="http://thehogwartsjourney.proboards.com">The Hogwarts Journey</a> Forums.</p><p> </p><p>Sirius and Regulus both receive a gift from their Grandmother for getting selected for their house Quidditch Teams.  For a while it looks like the family feud which has split the brothers could be settled, but it only takes an off-hand comment to return to hostility.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back To Black

It was a warm Saturday towards the end of September and Sirius was sat on the banks of the Great Lake with James and Remus. They had a lot of transfiguration homework that they could have been working on but the surprisingly warm weather had resulted in most of the students sitting outside to make the most of the last of the summer. Sirius was currently beating Remus at exploding snap while James was trying to figure out whether he preferred 'romantic' or 'spontaneous' men from one of Lily's old _Witch Weekly_ magazines.

"SNAP!" Sirius and Remus shouted together, both pointing their wands at the top card. 

They both turned to James for confirmation of who was first, but he just waved his hand not looking up from the magazine,

"Sirius won," he said.

"You say that every bloody time," Remus snapped, throwing the cards at Sirius, "You're not even paying attention!"

They continued playing cards for sometime becoming so engrossed in their game that they didn't notice the sky suddenly filling with owls. One of the owls swooped down towards Sirius, dropping a parcel on top of the cards which scattered across the grass, exploding in quick loud puffs.

The parcel was addressed to Sirius in his Grandmother's script. His Gran, who married into the Black family, was the only member of Sirius' family that didn't despise him since being sorted into Gryffindor. He'd assumed the rest of his family would get over it after a while, but 4 years on and they was still animosity whenever the Black brothers were home from Hogwarts. His brother, Regulus, continued the loathing at school.

Sirius opened the parcel to find a box full of sweets, which he duly noted gained James' interest, and an envelope sealed with brown wax. He carefully broke the wax and pulled out the letter. As he unfolded the parchment another piece of paper fell loose, and Sirius found a Gringotts cheque for 100 galleons on his lap.

He was just about to start reading the letter when he heard a voice shouting his name,

"Sirius!" The voice was accompanied by footsteps along the pathway leading from the castle, "Sirius!"

As Sirius turned, he saw his brother running towards him. His long black hair was flowing behind him and he had a parcel tucked under one arm. He was waving a cheque in the air with his other arm. As he got closer to Sirius, he noticed the box on the floor and the cheque on his lap.

"Gran sent you want to, did she?" he asked, a look of disappointment cast over his face, "What broom are you going to get?"

"Broom?" Sirius asked, taken aback by the random comment from his brother. He wasn't sure why his brother had specifically scouted him out to discuss the parcel - normally Regulus did everything in his power to avoid Sirius at school.

"Haven't you read the letter, yet?" Regulus replied, sitting down next to Sirius and throwing a sweet into his mouth, "The cheque is for a broom. For getting into the Quidditch team. Gran said we can decide which broom we want and order it ourselves."

Sirius looked down at the letter and scanned through it quickly. For once his bother wasn't lying. He'd probably come to down to gloat, but finding Sirius with the same parcel rendered that pointless. 

Sirius hadn't even wanted to try out for the Quidditch team, but James had persuaded him and somehow he'd actually done quite well. He now played beater for Gryffindor. Regulus, who was in his second year, had been desperate to get on the team. He'd practiced all summer and it had clearly paid off, he'd been picked as Slytherin's keeper.

"So," Regulus pressed his brother, "What are you going to get?"

"Well... I don't know, I haven't had chance to think!" Sirius replied, not really sure about broomsticks. He looked at James, who was now showing Remus something in Witch Weekly and figured that he'd have to ask his advice before buying one.

"It's okay, lets look through this," Regulus said, pulling a battered copy of _Which Broomstick?_ from his pocket and placing it in front of Sirius, "You'll want a fairly quick one for a beater."

Sirius halfheartedly flicked through the magazine, still clueless as to what was considered fast or appropriate for a beater. Regulus stuck his hand between the pages as he was flicking and pointed to a black broom that was advertised as being used by the _Holyhead Harpies_ keeper - even Sirius knew he was a good keeper,

"I'm getting that one. I have some savings from Father, so I'll have enough to buy it," he grinned at Sirius, hoping that his brother would show at least a little sign of excitement. 

Sirius smiled at his younger brother, aware how much the place on the team meant to him. He turned to look at the magazine properly, crossing his legs beneath him. He flicked a few pages further before turning to his brother, wondering if this conversation would be a start to the end of the family feud,

"What broom would you suggest? You know I know nothing about Quidditch really," he asked. It was strange that his brother was discussing the subject of brooms with him, but possibly the fact they were now both on their house Quidditch teams it would bring them closer together with a common interest.

A huge grin spread across his brothers face and he flicked to a page which had the corner turned down, already bookmarked. The page had several brooms on it, a large title declaring them _Elderby & Spudmore_ brooms and a caption in the corner saying that each came with a free broomstick serving kit,

"I'd suggest one of these. They're not massively fast, for but 100 galleons, you won't find anything faster," his brother replied enthusiastically, "and they'll easily beat the school brooms that half of the teams are riding. Oh, and the servicing kit is worth 25 galleons, so that saves you some money too!"

Sirius looked back at the magazine, wondering which of the three brooms on the page he should get. The only real difference in them was the colour - options of black, dark brown and light brown. His brother seemed very enthusiastic about them, and they didn't look that bad.

"I quite like the light brown one," Sirius replied, "What do you think James?"

His friend looked up from the magazine and began crawling over to the brothers, but before he could get to them Regulus jumped up and snatched the magazine from the ground,

"Don't you trust me Sirius? Why do you need his opinion. I was trying to be helpful," he shouted, causing several other students to turn their heads to see what the commotion was, "I know just as much about Quidditch and brooms as Potter does!"

Sirius looked shocked, surprised at the change in his brothers attitude.

"I just wanted his opinion!" he replied, trying to sound sympathetic, but coming across more angry than he'd intended, "I'll get the broom, calm down!"

"No, do whatever you want," his brother said, his face growing red with anger, the words spitting from his mouth, "No doubt the Potter's will give you the money to get some fancy Nimbus and you won't even thank Gran from the pittance she gave you to wards it."

Sirius stood, his mouth agape, not sure how to reply. It was true, the Potter's had bought him gifts in the past, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate what his family gave him. His Gran was the only one who cared for him and he loved her for that. The fact Regulus had savings from his father and Sirius had to scrounge from his friends in the first place proved that he wasn't ungrateful - he had nothing to be ungrateful for! 

"What?!" Sirius shouted back, barely believing what his brother was saying, "You and Mum and Dad are the ones who loathe me because I'm in Gryffindor. You only bring the Potter's into this because they care for me!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE ALL OF THEIR FAMILY ARE LOYAL TO THEIR TRUE HOUSE!" his brother screamed, leaning into Sirius face. 

Regulus' eyes were filled with the same fury that Sirius had seen in his fathers when he'd told him he wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor. Sirius took a step back, taking a deep breath before turning away from his brother. It wasn't worth arguing with his family over his feelings about Slytherin, none of them understood, they all thought him a traitor.

When he finally turned round again, calm enough to speak to his brother without his anger twisting his words, Regulus was storming back towards the castle, arms swinging wildly. Sirius watched him walk all the way back up to the entrance of the castle, confused as to how they'd managed to go from a friendly conversation back to the hostility of their summer holidays in mere seconds.


End file.
